Mumbai: Eyebrows were raised after Congress legislator Zeeshan Siddique was on Monday spotted at NCP’s Jansanman Yatra led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at the former’s Bandra East constituency.
While Siddique happens to be a Congress MLA, his links with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is known since his father Baba Siddique left the grand old party and joined the NCP.
Defending his move to attend the Jananman Yatra, Siddique said, “Ajit Pawar is the Deputy Chief Minister of the state and thousands of sisters were waiting to tie Rakhi to him. I am the local MLA. I am proud that the Deputy CM came to my constituency. I was not invited to the Congress programme. But today Ajit Pawar had come, so I welcomed him.”
Siddique, who was seen accompanying Ajit Pawar in an open jeep to the meeting venue, claimed he was neither taken into confidence nor invited to participate in the ‘Nyay Yatra’ organised recently by Congress MP and Mumbai unit chief Varsha Gaikwad.
He also expressed deep anguish over the treatment that he is receiving in the Congress.
Further, Siddique claimed that he was denied the nomination form by the Congress which recently started distributing them to the ticket aspirants for the upcoming Assembly polls.
“The message was clear. But despite that, I am going to contest the elections from Bandra East,” he said.
There is a buzz that he might be nominated by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
During the recently-held Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, six Congress legislators had cross-voted and there were speculation that Zeeshan was one of them.
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar in his speech on Monday ruled out the possibility of discontinuing the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, saying the government has already marked Rs 46,000 crore for its implementation in the annual budget.
He also claimed that the Ladki Bahin scheme is being implemented with full transparency, ruling out any possibility of irregularities.
–IANS